Last year a decade-old age discrimination lawsuit filed by a group of Hollywood writers over age 40 has been settled for $70 million. The Hollywood newspaper Variety reported the suit, filed in 2000, alleged that talent agents helped the television networks and movie studios discriminate against older writers by refusing to represent the older writers or refer them for studio writing assignments.
I got my Class Action post card in the mail. I tossed it. We are a town of “open secrets” and one of the most open and bewildering is that talented professionals, and amateurs alike, are being discriminated against because they are “Old”. “Old” being over 23 at times, over 39 for sure.
Last years “PitchFest” had a number of Studios, Producers and Managers willing to meet with potential Talent. John Fogel of “Fogel Ent.” Was listed as “Looking For: Writers in their 20’s & 30’s to develop specs from scratch”. I guess a genius writer aged 42 will not be considered. I question that business model but appreciate the honesty. I don’t think anybody should be forced to work with or buy a brilliant script from a 40 year old if they do not want to.
In the days of Black Listing, due to the irrational and unconstitutional fears of Communists, many writers used different names or had others submit their scripts. Today are we to get a fake ID or have our teenage nephews submit for us?
I understand prerequisites like - a greeter should be pleasant, a Hooters Girl should be a “girl”, a driver should have a drivers license and a delivery person should be able to safely move and deliver merchandise, etc. I am far from litigious are politically correct. I just cannot wrap my head around how living longer, which gives one more opportunity for more life experiences, is a hindrance to writing.
Ageism is rampant in “Hollywood”. Try to even get a server job if you are over 50. Especially a woman over 50. And thanks to the “Baby Boomers” older Americans are a huge population, but still there it is.
I am no stranger to workplace or even housing discrimination. Ever notice how very rarely jobs are posted with a mention of pay or benefits? Notice the lack of prices listed on “For Rent” signs? It is not like that in every city in America. Unlisted makes it easy to discriminate and scam.
I often run into people seemingly completely unqualified for their positions. The most glaring examples are The 70 year old one armed Furniture Mover I found on craigslist, The Sporting Goods employee who had never heard the word “raft” and Educators “K – College” with an alarmingly poor grasp of English. So, yes I see the need for standards and common sense. Constitutionally speaking I am uncomfortable with “regulations”… But writers?
Should we not judge the writer by the content of the script and not the date on the their birth certificate?
As a Director / Producer I am looking for the best script. The only criteria for a writer should be professionalism and performance.
There has been more than one writer fired for lying about age.
Recently a woman who was on a roll got the axe. The producers loved her work. She was really in touch with her fellow 19 year olds. Until she was found to be in her thirties and promptly fired. Fired for lying on her resume I presume. An act I highly discourage. But this particular incident is odd. They liked her writing, it was working. This is Show BUSINESS right? This town is not built on making money; it is built on making a profit. And they fired a profitable writer because she was not 19?
Writers are far from the only class to be dogged in this town. Native Americans are so far off the radar that they stopped keeping stats for them. Disabled actors not only can't get hired to play an average character; they can’t even get hire to play disabled roles. Such as “Born On The 4th of July” or more recently “Glee” and countless other examples old and new.
I say Damn the torpedoes! Let the Great Democratization continue! Yes the new ease of production via the Internet and “pro-sumer” cameras has created a lot of opportunities (and a lot of crap) but the cream will always rise to the top.
Self-Publish, Write it and Shoot it. Fight the Good Fight! And despite the propaganda you do not become less interesting with age. If that were the case, you would have bigger problems than being told “you are over the hill at age 23”.
Maybe you will become a big success and you can enact change from within.
“I’m going to changing it from the inside”!
This is what my acquaintance that had just been recruited by the CIA proclaimed while passing Magic Mushrooms around to everyone in the open bed of a Bikini Models pickup truck speeding towards a Deep Purple concert. I had just returned from traveling the world including a lion confrontation in newly Apartheid-Free South Africa and a forced extended stay in South America due to a Border War… One of many stories a 19 year old could never tell. Sometimes it actually helps to have lived life for a while. And Deep Purple is no longer touring… so good luck with that.
